^ 



H -2/ 



^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 542 120 2 



N 





THE 

Louisiana 
Purchase 



ml 



Mi 



mi 




AND ITS 

FIRST EXPLORER 

ZEBULON 

MONTGOMERY 

PIKE 



ALVA ADAMS 



SECOND EDITION 



''^HH 



J53 

n 

3V 1 



THE 



Louisiana Purchase 



AND ITS FIRST EXPLORER 



ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 



ADDRESS BY 

HON. ALVA ADAMS 

OF PUEBLO. COLO. 

Before the Students and Faculty of Colorado College, 
Colorado Springs, Colo. 



JULY 12th, 1894 



1 (*J , 



The first edition was exhausted long ago, 
and this edition is printed to satisfy the fre- 
quent requests for copies, due to the interest 
in Pike, excited by the pending Pike Centen- 
nial Celebration. 



A. A. 



Pueblo, Aug. 22, igo6. 
M.Y. S'n- • . 



The Louisiana Purchase 

AND ITS FIRST EXPLORER 
ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 



At the opening of the nineteenth century 
Europe was one vast military camp. Upon the crim- 
son crest of revolution Napoleon had ridden into 
power. The destinies of France were placed in his 
hands; and he led the devoted nation where he 
willed. The ambitious Corsican aimed not alone to 
control the nations of the old world, but he dreamed 
as well of empire in the new land that lay beyond 
the western sea. 

The gateway to the interior of the American 
continent was guarded by a French city. Over two 
centuries before, French explorers had driven the 
prows of their adventurous ships upon the coast of 
Louisiana, and in her soil planted a mighty cross and 
to it nailed the arms of France. Until 1762 the 
Lilies of France guided the infant destinies of the 
forest empire. Li that year, defeated by England 



in their rivalrj^ for dominion in America, France— 
with the art of a tricky bankrupt— sought out a pre- 
ferred creditor and by secret treaty ceded Louisiana 
to Spain. For thirty-eight years the new land lan- 
guished under the blight of Spanish rule. Then, in 
return for Tuscany, Spain gave back to France the 
title deeds of Louisiana. 

Three years later, when preparing for war with 
England, need of money and the danger of Louis- 
iana falling a prize to the naval supremacy of Eng- 
land forced Napoleon to give up his dream of a 
great Mississippi colony, and Louisiana was sold to 
Jefferson. No one, not even Jefferson, realized as 
fully as did the French emperor the value of that 
which he sold. The price was sixteen millions, 
twelve millions cash and four millions to pay claims 
of American citizens for French spoliation. It was, 
as Napoleon said, " a magnificent bargain; an em- 
pire for a trifle. " He also said: " A day may come 
when the cession of Louisiana to the United States 
shall render the Americans too powerful for the 
continent of Europe." " I have given to England 
a rival that will humble her pride. ' ' 

How different the voice of American statesman- 
ship! Seldom has the tongue of an American been 
touched with the spirit of prophecy when casting 
the horoscope of the West. Napoleon could better 
read the stars that told the destiny of western 
greatness. 

Jefferson realized that the nation that held the 
mouth of the Mississippi must be the enemy of the 
United States. He wanted freedom of the great 
river; but the empire to which his purchase led cast 
no rays upon his horizon. After the treaty was 



made, Jefferson said of Louisiana that ** it was a 
barren sand"; individuals will not buy; we gain 
nothing but peace." 

The Federalists denounced the purchase as cor- 
rupt and unconstitutional, and voted against the 
ratification of the treaty. New England denounced 
it as an illegal interference with the future balance 
of power of New England. Wlien a Tennessee mem- 
ber of congress proposed a survey of some portions 
of the new purchase a member from New England 
made it the text for the following bitter assault: 
'' No act of Jefferson's administration presents such 
a variety of disgraceful features as this shameful 
purchase of a colony of Frenchmen. In its origin 
it was corrupt; in its principles hostile to constitu- 
tion and republican habits. It has swallowed up 
millions aside from the vast sums required to ex- 
plore its unknown frontier. The origin of this mon- 
strous purchase, the effect of which will be felt to 
our latest posterity, was to give free navigation of 
Mississippi to the backwoodsmen of the western 
states. ' ' 

This spirit did not die. When, on January 15, 
1811, the bill for the admission of Louisiana as a 
state was being considered, Josiah Quincy, who two 
years later left congress to become president of Har- 
vard College, opposed the admission of the new 
state in these picturesque sentiments: 

" The illegal purchase of Louisiana had unset- 
tled the foundations of the government, and no 
state formed from the illegal territory could enter 
the Union or become equal with the original states. 
I am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opin- 
ion that if this bill admitting Louisiana as a state 



6 

passes, the bonds of the Union are virtually dis- 
solved; and that, as it will be the right of all, so it 
will be the duty of some to prepare definitely for a 
separation— amicably if they can; violently if they 
must. We have no right to throw the rights, liber- 
ties and property of original states into hotch- 
pot with wild men of Missouri, nor with the mixed 
though more respectable race of Anglo- Spanish 
Americans. It was not for these men our fathers 
fought; it was not for them this constitution was 
adopted. ' ' 

From these quotations we can see that South 
Carolina was not the first state to preach the gospel 
of secession. 

Years later, when the Oregon question was be- 
fore the people, William Sturgiss, in a lecture be- 
fore the Mercantile Library Association of Boston, 
said: " Better the Pacific extend to the Rocky 
Mountains than to have the Oregon country convert- 
ed into new states. ' ' 

In the light of the present, these assaults upon 
and evil predictions concerning the west are as full 
of humor as the fight of Cervantes' hero with the 
windmills. They show the pessimist of our day that 
angelic wings were as short and rare on the shoul- 
ders of our noble ancestors as with the statesmen of 
to-day. Our nation has grown in breadth and 
power, but human nature has changed but little. 
Distance has wreathed the past with all the charms 
of its enchantment, so that to our gaze every actor 
on the early stage of our history bears the character 
and proportions of a demigod and a hero, and their 
deeds in the political arena stamping their times as 



the golden age of statesmanship. Yet, in truth, men 
l^ere as bitter, partisan, selfish and narrow then as 
now. Time and tombstones are ever kind. 

In the history of American progress there are 
but one or two events as important as the purchase 
of Louisiana. In the annals of mankind there have 
been few triumphs of warrior or statesman that 
have been so pregnant with the seeds of a great and 
a beneficent destiny. Yet was it attained with no 
stain of blood or crash of battle. 

At midday in New Orleans, on December 20, 
1803, the French and American flags passed each 
other, as the one was lowered and the other raised. 
There was no other ceremony to mark the great 
event. No cheering multitude. No cannon awoke 
the echoes of the surrounding solitude. No orator 
indulged in partiotic prophecy. There was no com- 
ment, no music, no emotion. Thus simply an em- 
pire passed from the dominion of France and be- 
came a part of the glory and grandeur of the Ameri- 
can republic. 

By this transfer the public domain was widely 
extended— almost beyond known limits. 

In order to learn more of the new land. Lieuten- 
ant Zebulon Montgomery Pike was placed in charge 
of an exploring party to explore the headwaters of 
the Mississippi river. So satisfactorily did Pike per- 
form this service that upon his return from the north 
he was selected by General Wilkinson to command a 
party that should explore the Arkansas and Red 
rivers— the intent being to ascend the Arkansas to 
its source, and then pass over to the Red river and 
return home by that stream. It is with this last ex- 
pedition that we will travel. 



8 

On January 24, 1806, Lieutenant Pike started 
from Belle Fontaine, a village a few miles above St^||k 
Louis. The expedition comprised twenty three men 
— officers and soldiers. Their equipments consisted 
of the ordinary effects of a company of infantry. 
General Wilkinson issued six hundred dollars in val- 
ue of merchandise, which was to be an expense and 
trading fund for this company of explorers. Pike 
was admonished to be careful in spending his sup- 
plies, as he would be held to a strict accountability 
for every farthing expended. Wilkinson evidently 
expected Pike to have the financial wisdom and busi- 
ness qualities of a Methodist bishop aside from his 
attainments as soldier and explorer. The contrast 
between government supplies then and now is vivid. 
To-day when a committee from congress is sent out 
on a visit of friendly inspection to some western 
agency or post, the liquors, cigars and luxuries that 
are loaded on their Pullman car cost more than the 
entire expense of this band of explorers, who were to 
travel an indefinite time in an unknown and savage 
wilderness. The effects of the company were loaded 
into two crude boats. "\^nien ready to start, fifty-one 
Osage Indians were placed in Pike's charge. These 
he was to escort to their homes on the headwaters of 
the Osage river. The Indians walked along the banks 
of the river, as did some of the men, hunting as they 
went, to supply food for the party. The party 
passed up the Missouri and Osage rivers, and in due 
time arrived at the Indian village, where they de- 
livered the Indians to their friends. After trading 
for horses, supplies and arranging for guides, they 
left the boats and crossed the country to the Arkan- 
sas. 



Pike kept a daily record, noting the country, 
^weather and all incidents he considered valuable or 
interesting. As a literary work, Pike's diary may not 
rank very high ; but as the narration of a sincere and 
patriotic soldier it will ever hold a place in the es- 
teem of those who admire the straightforward story 
of a simple and brave man. 

As the record of Colorado's discoverer, the jour- 
nal of the man who built the first house and raised 
the first American flag upon the domain of our pres- 
ent state, I commend the perusal of his book to every 
citizen that loves his state. 

Aside from his duty as explorer. Pike was in- 
structed to visit the Pawnee and other Indian tribes 
and to make treaties of peace and alliance with them. 
This was not always easy to accomplish. 

Not long before a splendid troop of Spanish cav- 
alry, coming from Santa Fe, had passed through this 
same region upon a similar errand. In anticipation 
of boundary disputes arising between Spain and the 
United States, the Spaniards made an effort to form 
friendly alliances with the Indians. This troop was 
a magnificent body of men, five hundred strong. 
Every soldier was mounted on a milk white steed, 
while the commander and his two aides rode jet black 
stallions. This cavalcade of Spaniards had been lav- 
ish in presents to the chiefs. They left medals and 
flags of the Spanish king. The Indians had been 
much impressed with the superb unifonus, with the 
glitter and the boast of the Spanish officers. They 
were, indeed, in strange contrast with the sorry 
equipments and number of the American soldiers. It 
required much diplomacy to induce them to surren- 
der the Spanish emblem and receive the Stars and 



10 

Stripes. Often the small troop was in imminent dan- 
ger, but the wonderful coolness, courage and decis- 
ion of their leader saved them. With the Indians 
Pike was exacting, but just. As he wrote, ''His ex- 
perience had taught him that if you have justice on 
your side and do not enforce it, the Indians will 
universally despise you. ' ' 

The Pawnees he found very reluctant to accept 
his tenders of peace and protection. They had been 
fascinated and flattered with the attention and mag- 
nificence of the Spaniards, and they sought no alli- 
ance with any power less splendid. Like most primi- 
tive people, the Indians judged the king by his em- 
bassador; the sender of a message by the display of 
the messenger that brought it. They looked with con- 
tempt upon this American captain, who wore the 
dress of a hunter; who carried packs and pioneered 
the trail. Like the Jews of old, they were disappoint- 
ed in appearances and scoffed at Pike as being the 
representative of a mighty power, whose embassador 
he claimed to be. Proud of their many hundred war- 
riors, these Pawnees refused to treat or smoke. They 
gathered their warriors in battle array and threaten- 
ed to sweep the little band of whites from the earth. 
But when they saw no fear or signs of retreat, but 
instead the most cool and determined preparations 
to meet their assaults, they changed their mind, and, 
under a flag of truce, offered the calumet. In writing 
of this event. Pike writes as though he was a little 
disappointed that the Pawnees did not carry out 
their intention to fight, ''as he had arranged his 
small troop so as to kill at least one hundred of the 
Indians before they could have been exterminated." 



11 

Day by day they press up the Arkansas. At 
first, on either hand great rolling prairies, and then 
the ocean-like plains. He is amazed at the vast herds 
of buffalo, deer, elk and other game. A single hunter 
could supply a small army with food ; but as a mat- 
ter of humanity he forbids the killing of more game 
than re(iuired. Were it not that some of our living 
citizens have seen on the same plains herds of buf- 
falo that were lunited only by the horizon's line, and 
had felt the earth shake beneath their myriad tread, 
we might question the estimate Pike gives of the 
game he saw. 

As Pike enters the buffalo country, he comments 
freely upon the barrenness and desolation. He for- 
gets that game could not be so plentiful if the land 
were so desolate. So impressed was he with the 
worthlessness of the plams, that when, reviewing his 
travels across them, he said: **The plains may in 
time become equally celebrated with the deserts of 
Africa. From these immense prairies may arise one 
great advantage to the United States by the restrict- 
ing of our population to some certain limits, and 
thereby insuring a continuation of the Union. Our 
citizens through necessity will be constrained to limit 
their extent on the west to the Mississippi and Mis- 
souri, leaving the prairies— incapable of cultivation 
—to the uncivilized aborigines." 

Pike, Quincy, Webster and other of our famied 
ancestors were great explorers and statesmen, but 
as prophets they were failures. After many days the 
mountains burst upon the vision of the explorers. 
To the left a pair of twin peaks cut the horizon; to 
the right, a mighty single mountain stood like a sen- 
tinel upon the boundary of plain and mountain. 



12 

From the first sight of the grand peak it became the 
pole star— the compass of the explorer. During all 
his wanderings over plain and mountain he was sel- 
dom out of sight of the great mountain which he 
called his friend and guide, and a grateful people 
have made it his monument— one that will carry the 
name of Pike down the stream of time. Seldom have 
peaks been so royally named; seldom have heroes 
been worthy so lofty a commemoration. 

When Pike reached the mouth of the Fountaine, 
and where Pueblo now stands, he established camp ; 
built a rude temporary stockade, and over it raised 
the first American flag that had ever been kissed by 
the radiant sun and floated upon the crystal air of 
the Rocky Mountains. Considering it his duty as an 
explorer to ascend a peak that was such a prominent 
feature of the landscape. Pike, with several soldiers, 
took an early start one morning from his Pueblo 
camp, so that he might reach and climb the peak and 
return to camp in reasonable time. To their infinite 
surprise, the second day had well near passed before 
they came to the south end of Cheyenne Mountain. 
In this incident you will find the germ of that ancient 
story that is told to and about every tenderfoot that 
has visited this region since the days of Pike. It was 
near the first of December, and a winter of deep snow 
and intense cold. They had no blankets and little 
food, but they determined to attempt the ascent. 
After the best part of two days' struggling through 
the snow, they found themselves upon the top of the 
great ridge which, west of Cheyenne, leads up to the 
peak. They were in snow to their waists, and the mer- 
cury below zero. Still the peak, in its soaring gran- 
deur, seemed as distant as ever. This led Pike to say 



13 

that it seemed impossible that human foot could ever 
press its summit. To him it was as though the Al- 
mighty had marked *'no thoroughfare" upon it rug- 
ged heights and eternal snows. As his men were 
without food, and dressed only in army overalls, 
shoes without stockings, no blankets or overcoats, he 
decided it folly to go farther, and ordered a return. 
Two days later they were in camp at Pueblo. 

This was the first attempt to scale Pike's Peak, 
and that was as near as Pike ever came to its summit. 
Sixteen years later, Dr. James and others of Long's 
exploring party ascended the Peak in midsummer. 
It is a different tasj^ climbing Colorado mountains in 
August than in December. 

In honor of tMs first ascent Long gave the name 
of James to the peak, and that is the name it bears 
in early government maps and reports. Pike gave it 
no specific name, and just when the name of James 
was dropped and it was christened Pike is one of the 
historical mysteries. I question whether it was ever 
legally baptized Pike. Trappers, traders and early 
voyagers across the plains resented the apparent 
slight to Pike and persisted in speaking of the moun- 
tain as Pike's Peak, in defiance of government re- 
ports and the envj of rival explorers. The name of 
Pike's Peak begins to appear in the literature of the 
prairies and mountains about the middle of the cen- 
tury, but it was not irrevocably christened until the 
Pike's Peak gold excitement, when the name was 
fixed to remain as long as men love to listen to 
stories of valor ; as long as history is written. 

From Pueblo Pike passed up to the soda springs 
at Canon. The walls of the Grand Canon prevented 
his following the course of the Arkansas. From 



14 

here he drifted over the divide into South Park and 
upon tlie waters of the Platte. He recog^aized the 
streams as tributarj^ to the Platte. He came into 
the Arkansas valley again near Buena Vista. He 
wandered west over routes we cannot identify until 
he must have found the Tomichi, a tributary of the 
Gunnison, and the only time Pike touched Pacific 
waters. He recognized that this stream running 
west could not be the Red he sought, and turned 
east and south. After a month of incredible expos- 
ure, hardship and suffering, he came back to his 
camp at Canon. His horses had been killed or dis- 
abled; his men were worn and frozen, weak and 
faint from exposure and starvation ; his supplies ex- 
hausted ; guns injured and broken. During this ter- 
rible month of wandering in the wintry mountains 
the Christmas holidays and Pike's twenty-eighth 
birthday were passed. Christmas they spent in the 
heart of the mountains. They were almost standng 
and in a strange and wintry land. Yet this heroic 
man writes in his journal on that Christmas day 
" that food and diet were beneath the serious con- 
sideration of men who explore new countries." So 
often were their rations scant that "his men thought 
themselves fortunate with having plenty of buffalo 
meat without salt or any other thing whatever." As 
he was in camp celebrating this holiday he writes of 
the condition of his men : **Not one person was prop- 
erly clothed for winter; many without blankets, 
having been obliged to cut them up for socks and 
other articles; laying down at night upon the snow 
or wet ground, one side burning, the other pierced 
with the wind, the men making a miserable substi- 
tute for shoes and other covering out of raw buffalo 
hide." 



15 

At Canon camp they remained five days to re- 
cruit the strength of their men, and to make other 
neoessaiy preparations for an assault against the 
mountains to the west, which was the barrier that 
tliey supposed hid the river they sought. When 
leaving Canon, the party was on foot, the horses 
living being in no condition to travel. The luggage 
was divided, giving seventy pounds to each man. 

From Canon they started up Grape creek. After 
two or three days they entered Wet Mountain valley. 
Snow fell, covering the country to a depth of two to 
three feet. Most of the game had been driven out of 
the mountains, and the party was soon in a des- 
perate condition, frost and hunger making sad 
havoc. On January 17 nine of the men had their 
feet frozen, among them the hunters. They had been 
two days without food, so a camp was made, and 
Pike and Dr. Robinson— his friend and companion- 
went out to hunt. The first day they killed nothing. 
Night came on and they thought it useless to go to 
camp and add to the general gloom, so took shelter 
under some rocks, where they remained all night, 
hungry and without cover or rest, as the cold was too 
intense to permit sleep. Next day they got eight 
shots at a buffalo, but failed to kill. Here, for the 
first time in his career. Pike weakened in courage. 
They had been four days without food, and the help- 
less men depending upon them. All these four days 
without sleep and tramping the deep snow, they 
were weak and faint, and it looked as though fate 
had decreed that the expedition should end in 
tragedy. They sought a small grove, determined to 
remain absent and die by themselves rather than re- 
turn to camp and witness the misery of their com- 



16 

panions. Just as they had made this resolution of 
despair, they discovered at a distance several buf- 
falo. Hope at once took command, and with great 
exertion they crept through the snow and succeeded 
in killing a buffalo. At midnight they returned to 
camp with the food that saved the lives of the men 
and the exploration from tragic failure. 

On January 21 two men— Thomas Dougherty 
and John Sparks— were so badly frozen that they 
could not travel. A cruel alternative was forced 
upon the leader. For all to remain with the poor 
cripples was almost equivalent to deciding that all 
must perish. The two were left. They gathered 
wood and left what meat remained with the poor 
men. After bidding them show their fortitude and 
bear up until help could be sent back, the party 
pushed on. A day or so later another man— 
Menaugh— became helpless, and he was left alone— 
not even the consolation of a comrade. 

In all the danger and risk of exploration, be it 
in mountain land or polar ice, I loiow of nothing 
more terrible and desperate than the condition of 
these poor men left to fight the awful perils of a 
severe winter in the unknown mountain land. They 
were helpless; they could not hunt or fight; they 
could not retreat or go on. Their agony and sus- 
pense cannot be measured by words. I know of no 
parallel, unless it be in the solitary leper camps in 
the wintry solitudes of the Siberian forests. 

On January 24 the condition of the party again 
became desperate— no food, and heavy snow through 
which they beat their slow and painful march. On 
this day Pike heard the first complaint that had ever 
fallen from the lips of his men. To illustrate the 



17 

man as a soldier and a disciplinarian, I will ^ive this 
incident. Floundering through the snow, famished 
from want of food, private Brown scolded and said 
*' that it was more than human nature could hear to 
march three days without food through snows three 
feet deep and carry burdens only fit for horses." 

Pike passed over the sedition at the moment, 
but that evening, after the company had broken their 
long fast and eaten their fill of game the doctor had 
been so fortunate as to kill, Pike called Brown and 
addressed him as follows: 

" Brown, you this day presumed to make use 
of language that was seditious and mutinous. I then 
passed it over, pitying your condition and attribut- 
ing your conduct to your distress. Had I reserved 
provisions for ourselves, whilst you were starving; 
had we been marching along light and at our ease, 
whilst youwere weighed down with your burden, then 
you would have some pretext for your obsei'\'ations. 
But when we were equally hungry, wearj^ emaciated 
and charged with burdens which, I believe, my natural 
strength is less able to bear than any man's in the 
party, when we are always foremost in breaking the 
road, reconnoitering and enduring the fatigues of 
the chase, it was the height of ingratitude for you to 
indicate discontent. Your ready compliance and 
firm perseverance 1 had reason to expect, as the 
leader of men wlio are my companions in misery and 
danger. But your duty as a soldier called on your 
obedience to your officer and a i)rohil)ition of such 
language, which, for this time, I will pardon ; but 
assure you, should it ever be repeated, by instant 
death I will revenge your ingratitude and punish 
your disobedience." 



18 

Two days later Pike stood upon the summit of 
Medano or Music Pass and looked out upon the San 
Luis valley. After his experience it is no marvel 
that it seemed to him to be " a terrestrial paradise 
shut in from the sight of man." They hastened 
down the pass, skirted the range of sand hills, crossed 
the valley, arriving at the Rio Grande near where 
Alamosa stands, passed down the river a few miles 
to the mouth of the Conejos, up which stream they 
went a short distance to the warm springs, near 
where Judge Mclntire now has his ranch and home. 
Here Pike determined to establish a camp and build 
a fort. As soon as his camp was located he sent a 
corix)ral and men to bring in the frozen men that 
had been cached in the mountains. 

In due time they returned, bringing in 
Menaugh, the man left alone on January 27. 
Dougherty and Sparks were still unable to travel 
and could not be brought. As the coi*poral was leav- 
ing them they gave him a handful of bones (taken 
from their frozen feet) to be delivered to Pike as 
silent messages of appeal that he would not forget 
or abandon them. 

Pike explored the surrounding valley and kept 
his men busy building the stockade. 

On February 16 two Spanish scouts appeared. 
Tliey went direct to Santa Fe to report the presence 
of American soldiers on Spanish territory. 

Ten days later one hundred Spanish or Mexican 
soldiers present their compliments to the American 
captain. They bore an invitation to visit Governor 
Allencaster at Santa Fe. Pike was reluctant, but 
they were persistent in their offer of hospitality, 
offering money, horses, supplies, everything, but in- 



19 

sisting upon Pike visiting the governor, giving as 
an excuse for insisting the clumsy fable that they 
had learned of the intention of the Utah Indians to 
surprise and capture Pike, and that they could not 
permit a representative of the United States to sub- 
mit himself to so great danger. 

In discussing the matter, the Spanish captain in- 
formed Pike that he was upon the Rio Grande and 
not upon the Red. Pike then pulled down his flag 
and realized that he was a prisoner, no matter how 
they might cushion the fact with offers of friendly 
hospitality. Pike said he would visit the governor, 
but that he must wait until he could bring in his 
invalid men. This was adjusted by leaving fifty of 
the Spanish soldiers to wait, while the balance of the 
troop escorted Pike to Santa Fe. 

He is entertained by Governor Allencaster and 
maintains himself with becoming dignity. In fact, 
he never forgets that he represents the United 
States, and always insists that the Spanish officials 
recognize in him the power of his government. 
When presented at the little court at Santa Fe, Pike 
Tras much chagrined at the appearance of himself 
and men. As he described their clothes. Pike was 
dressed in a pair of blue trousers, moccasins, coat 
made out of a blanket, and a red cap made of scarlet 
cloth and lined with fox skins; the men in raw buf- 
falo moccasins and leggings, breech cloths, leather 
coats and not a hat in the party. A native, looking 
upon their motley raiment, asked if the people in the 
United States did not wear hats and regular clothes. 
Under such conditions it would take a keen eye to 
see the hero. 



20 

After entertaining tlie American tlie governor 
said Pike must go into the interior until he could 
receive instructions from higher authorities. The 
leader and men were allowed their arms and, though 
carefully guarded, they were treated with considera- 
tion. Pike seemed rather pleased at the new orders, 
as it gave him an opportunity to see the Spanish ter- 
ritory. In case he was ill-treated, he had determined 
to drive off the guards, and then go into the Apache 
country and defy the Spaniards. 

They passed through Albuquerque and El Paso 
and across the Rio Grande into Old Mexico to Chi- 
huahua, south along the great table land, until May 
21, when, under new instructions, they turned east 
and north, crossed the country to Monterey, Laredo 
and to San Antonio, the capital of the Spanish prov- 
ince of Texas. Here Pike was entertained in the 
most friendly manner by two courtly Spanish gov- 
ernors. An escort was provided, which accom- 
panied him across Texas and delivered him to the 
American frontier on the Red river. 

Here ended the memorable expedition of Pike 
to the Rocky Mountains. 

Connected with this exploration were several 
incidents that are not free from mystery, and may 
well serve as hooks upon which the ambitious his- 
torian may hang his romantic theories. 

About the time this expedition was organized 
the Burr conspiracy was in the minds of the people. 
There was much feeling between the settlers west of 
the Allegheny Mountains and the states east. Nearly 
all of the prominent men of the west were under 
suspicion. General Wilkinson, then in command of 
the western army, has been proven by recently dis- 



21 

covered documents to have been a *' rascal through 
and through. ' ' He was in sympathy and perhaps in 
the confidence of Burr. Wearing the uniform and 
sword of an American officer, he was in the pay of 
Spain, and conspired to create out of the colonies 
west of the mountains a Spanish empire. It was 
Wilkinson who sent Pike west; but no matter how 
guilty may have been his superior in command. Pike 
certainly had no knowledge of his schemes. Pike 
was innocent of any stain. He was a patriot as pure 
and sincere as Wilkinson was a traitor base and un- 
grateful. 

When Pike returned to his country the Burr 
conspiracy had exploded, and its leader was on trial 
for his life at Richmond. The relations between the 
United States and Spain were very much strained. 
Our nation was a growing power; Spain in its de- 
cadence. Any accident that might lead to a conflict 
that would drive Spain from the continent would 
not have been regarded by Americans as an unmixed 
evil. 

Some careful students of American history en- 
tertain the theory that Pike had secret instructions 
to spy out the land and not to be too particular in 
recognizing the territorial claims of Spain. It is 
not entirely clear that Pike was as innocent as he 
professed of his whereabouts when captured in the 
San Luis valley. Some believe that he knew he was 
ui)on the Rio Grande and not upon the Red, as he 
pretended to believe. But had it been the Red in- 
stead of the Rio Grande, what right had he to be 
on the south side of the river, his rude fort being 
.•several miles south of the stream and under an abey- 
ance treaty upon forbidden ground. The Spaniards 



22 

believed that Pike carried secret orders to intrude 
upon their territory. However, they could not trick 
him into any admissions, and though they secretly 
searched his baggage and clothing, they found 
nothing. Certainly his conduct was well poised for 
an accidental invader. When building his fort he 
was apparently as much expecting the Spaniards as 
surprised when they did come. He was a very will- 
ing prisoner, and his attitude was always that of a 
man who was sure of the endorsement of his country. 
If the Spaniards were right and Pike did have secret 
instructions, they came from Washington, and the 
secret is buried with the authority that gave them 
and the faithful soldier that received them. The 
Spaniards could get no hint, though they led Pike a 
prisoner guest through their country, and finally 
delivered him upon his own frontier without apology 
or explanation. 

The government never had a more discreet or 
patriotic representative— a man of indomitable will 
and of rare personal courage. 

In nearly every man there is a strain of barbar- 
ism, a lingering hint of a bygone ancestr}", that 
sometimes, when remote from civilization, will as- 
sert itself. Pike was ever proof against the charms 
of savagery. He was ever a soldier, whether in 
camp, in wilderness or city. No El Dorado, no 
Spring of Youth, no dream of wealth, led him into 
the unknown. He had no idol but his country. 
Patriotic duty was the polar star that guided his 
career. 

Amid our surroundings, touched upon every 
side with comfort and luxury, it is not possible to 
paint a true picture of this region as it was when 



23 

these brave men came to explore and suffer. With 
the courage, strength and endurance weakened— if 
not civilized and cultured out of the present genera- 
tion—we cannot realize how men could willingly 
face the hazard of an expedition so far from settle- 
ment or help. There was no certainty but of hard- 
ship and danger; no reward, but the miserable pit- 
tance of a soldier's pay; no hope of glory or fame— 
800 miles from outposts of their country, and that 
distance peopled with all the danger that could as- 
sail the fears, comfort and life. Their numbers few, 
equipments scanty, commissary their own skill as 
hunters ; no refuge from savage assaults ; no friends 
in reach; no help in danger; no shelter in storm; 
no medicine in illness; never men more dependent 
upon themselves ; never men more competent to care 
for themselves. 

Poetry and romance never wove a more pathetic 
and pitiable story of exix)sure and misery, of hun- 
ger and frozen limbs, than the sufferings of Pike 
and his little band in the Rocky Mountains. It is a 
rare lesson of courage and patriotic sacrifice. 

The biography of our hero remains unwritten. 
A land is rich in heroism that can afford to let such 
lives go unmarked. Edward Everett Hale has half 
promised that he will weave the life and deeds of 
Pike into one of his brilliant books. The subject is 
worthy even of Dr. Hale's genius. Pike was not one 
of those characters designated by Irving as "Sin- 
bads of the wilderness," but a man of high purpose 
and exalted character. Courage so undaunted, a 
patriotism so lofty, adventures so wild and strange 
need no color of romance. 



24 

His years were few, but full of acliievement. 
He died a brigadier general at thirty-four. He was 
killed while in command at the siege of York— now 
Toronto-April 27, 1813. As he fell mortally 
wounded, the enemy sounded a retreat. Their flag 
was captured and brought to the dying general. He 
grasped the captured banner, placed it beneath his 
head, and, like Wolfe, died the death of a soldier. 
The last sound that broke upon his fading senses 
was the song of victory. 

When he fell upon the Canadian battle field his 
note book was crimsoned with his life blood. That 
book contained his inheritance to his young son. It 
was not wealth ; it was not title deeds to vast estates, 
but it was more precious than either. It was two 
rules for the guidance of his son's life. They were: 
First—" Preserve your honor from blemish." Sec- 
ond—" To be ready at all times to die for your 
country." Typical were they of the life of the 
father— a worthy inheritance to everj'^ American 
youth. 

May each of you, as morning and evening you 
look upon the magnificent mountain that guards 
your beautiful city and crowns our land, not only 
drink in the scenic beauty and grandeur, but think 
as well of the brave soldier, pure patriot and noble 
man whose name it bears, remembering that— 
" His life was his country's; 
His deeds were all his own." 

ALVA ADAMS. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 542 120 2 



r 



